Barely Legal
by chimney leaf
Summary: With a murderer on the loose, Gohan has to be on the top of his game, even while worrying about his estranged lover. Gh/Vi.
1. Been Trying To Meet You

A beautiful young woman silently surveyed her prey with callous and uncaring eyes. No emotion, as usual, it was how you kept going in a profession like her own. Not many could do it, almost everyone on the planet lacked the essential qualities for the tasks that were constantly falling upon her. They didn't have the patience, the sharp character and the abnormal drive to get a job done, and done well. Nor did they have the guts. What an old phrase that was, she wondered where it had come from. 'Guts'? Ah well, time to figure that out later, she had a job to do.

As soon as she received her orders it was always the same. It was as though she tuned out from the entire world. She wasn't really participating in what was about to occur, it was more like she was watching it from afar, and most of the time, she was utterly horrified at what her body was being forced to do, but the pain was eased slightly when she realised who exactly it was that she was killing, and of course that it wasn't even really her who was doing it.

The door to the motel room opened slowly, and a blonde woman's face peered out, the same woman that she had watched enter not even sixty minutes ago. As she picked up the features of the young, but worn looking woman, she noticed the faint tinges of bruise and blood on her once pretty face, and it caused an upsurge in anger that was normally absent. This guy was a real bastard.

It was the girl's own fault really, or some might choose to say, shouldn't be messing with these sorts of characters. Just some criminal's mistress who got what she deserved. That was the kind of crap people like the scum in the room opposite her own usually said. It made them feel like there was absolutely nothing wrong with what they were doing. She pushed the feelings of anger and hatred further down into her being, and reached for that callous nature to resurface.

As soon as that woman was out of earshot, the man across the way would be meeting his end. It was no more than he deserved. He probably blamed the girl for what she got as well.

She placed her small set of binoculars on the table beside her, and pulled the curtains in her room fully shut, and opened her door just a crack. She watched, her breath completely noiseless, a trait she had picked up after what seemed like countless years on the job. Although it was far from it. How long had she been forced to do this for?

Too long.

The young woman was now hurrying along the road outside of the motel, checking over her shoulder for any oncoming traffic, and then proceeded to cross over to the other side.

Quickly, the woman hidden in the motel room slipped out of her door, and left it slightly ajar, a pencil holding it open by mere millimetres. That would allow her a swift retreat back to the confines of her lodgings for the night.

She ran her finger along the cool black lines of the weapon in her hand, the one that had served her so well, the one that _he_ gave her. She had never done her job with another, and this one was somewhat a lucky charm for her. She padded around the balcony that held the doors to the rooms on the first floor, clothed in all black, complete with bobble hat, another one of her objects that she now felt brought her good fortune. Her slender frame made no sound, nor did any of the other residents for the night take in the presence of a black attired assassin running about. It wasn't as though they were expecting one. They needn't worry.

Unless they'd been bad.

She now stood at the door of her next target. This one certainly was a bad egg, she had done her research on him. Name? Who cared, he would be dead in a few minutes. All that mattered was that he had killed, but unlike her, not for righteous reasons, as she constantly told herself. Her reasons were_ righteous._ All done for the correct reasons.

Plus, he was a known drug runner, extortionist, et etcetera, et etcetera. The usual stereotypical gangster stuff. And then of course there was the poor girl that had left a few minutes earlier. Her timing had been perfect, the well trained killer had a lot to thank her for, she had left the door unlocked.

Slowly, trying to eliminate the creak in the door's hinges, she pushed it open. The motel room consisted of a considerably sized living space type of room, with a television, lamps and a sofa, the usual stuff, and this led out to a bathroom and a bedroom. She could see him there, sat on the corner of the bed, engrossed in what was on the television in that room and allowed a smile to grace her beautiful lips.

Poor guy was going to die watching the Disney channel . The police would have a riot with this one! A real hoot. Her footsteps were silent as she approached, but she allowed herself a little fun, stepping down hard at one point.

"I thought that I told you to piss off!" He hissed through clenched teeth. She could almost taste the stench of sweat reeking off him, his fat body causing him to sweat at even the easiest of tasks, even sitting on a bed watching television.

He obviously thought that it was his girl back for another visit. She grasped the pillow in her hand tighter, the one that she had decided upon using when entering through the door. She had a suppressor on her gun, but this way it would be even quieter and make much less mess. She didn't want to trouble the over stretched police department any more than she would have to. Normally she hated silencers, they were so impersonal, but this was a crowded place, and last time she had done one like this she hadn't used one, and had very nearly been caught out. _He _hadn't been happy at all after that. Only a bit of flirting and a flash of a bit of leg had got her out of it.

"Piece of shit..." She whispered, and he turned around sharply, a look of pure terror, anguish and confusedness mixed onto his bloated face. The dark clothes and black leather gloves had been a bit of a give-away, the gun in her hand the clincher. He was about to be killed. By a beautiful woman. In a bobble hat. He moved to get up, but his own weapon was back in the bathroom with his jacket.

She moved quick as a flash though, years of practice beating his years of wallowing in his wealth. She placed the cushion to his head with her left hand, and pushed the gun hard into it with her right, and pulled the trigger. He fell back onto the beige carpet, his eyes wide open. She dropped the item in her left hand onto his chest, letting it fall onto his chest with a light thud, ready for the motel manager to discover tomorrow afternoon, badgering him about payment.

Smiling to herself, she left the room, pulling the door behind her, but leaving it slightly ajar, as it had been when she arrived, and went back to her own door that also lay slightly open, and after undressing, fell into a dreamless, contented sleep. A job well done indeed.

Have you ever simply looked around yourself, and actually _looked?_ Looked at every single thing in a room that you are in, taken it all in, catalogued it all, taken note inside your mind, committing it to memory, ready for later. Son Gohan had. Detective Son Gohan did that _a lot_. It was his job, he was supposed to notice things, and he did so with unerring accuracy, something that had led him into becoming one of the most widely respected detectives in all of Orange Star. His city.

But lately, things had been different. He had been looking at rooms, and seeing things. Things that really should _not_ be there, Everything in those rooms had simply been _wrong_. That was the only way he could explain it. They were warped, out of shape. Right now he was looking at the oddly familiar shape that was the area of wall that lay above the door of his bathroom.

He stood in the shower, the curtain pulled back slightly to allow him a clear line of sight to the wall in question. Since when did the door look as though it was sinking into the ground on one side, or that one side of the wall was growing upwards. He stared incredulously at it for a few more moments, until the ringing of his telephone stirred him from his thoughts.

Quickly jumping from the confines of his shower, switching the water off, and wrapping a towel around his wet body, he picked the ringing object up, and placed it to his ear.

"We got another one Gohan." The voice told him.

The tall male nodded to himself, he had had a feeling that there had been another last night, he had felt it in his bones. "Our Little Helper?" Our Little Helper was the affectionate name that had been given to the assassin that was running around the city whacking all of the major criminals that the police had too little evidence to prosecute. The attacks had been coming far more recently lately.

"Mm-Hmm." The voice answered. He nodded again, knowing full well that the man on the other end had no idea what he was doing, the action was more to reassure himself more than anything. He thought to himself about what would happen when this guy was caught, if he was ever caught. Never a shred of evidence was found, as of yet they had no leads, but despite the victims' dubious lifestyles, the police had now been warned to scale up their efforts.

On deciding that he was washed enough, he strode over to his wardrobe, picking out one of his crisp, brand new suits. After eating a hastily prepared breakfast, consisting of a couple of boxes of cereal, straight from the packet, he opened the door to the outside world. The sun hit him quickly, and he shut his eyes to shield them from burning in the light. Every god damned morning he opened that door and got hit by the thick blaze of light.

He turned around a hundred and eighty degrees, and reached for the sunglasses on the table by the front door. His stereotypical detective ensemble now complete, his jacket in his hand, he sauntered out of the building and towards his car that awaited him on the roadside. With the remote locking system, he unlocked the door to his new car, and stepped inside, tossing the jacket onto the back-seat. He wasn't the type to hang it up on a hanger in the back window. It would just get covered in blood today anyway.

Gohan pulled up to the drive through at his local fast food restaurant, his stomach already rumbling, despite his more than ample breakfast. After giving his order into the voice box, he leant back into his seat, awaiting his meal. His thoughts wandered back to what he would have to do today.

This killer had evaded the police for many months now, leaving not even a shred of evidence in the rooms that they had attacked within. There had been no rhyme nor reason to the attacks, one month there might be none, the next there could be half a dozen.

After receiving his order from the booth, he threw the bag down on the seat beside him, picking a burger out without looking. He went motoring along the streets at high speed towards the motel where the crime had been committed. Driving was easy for him, maybe it was the years of martial arts training with his mother. Everything always seemed to be in slow motion to Gohan, be it cars, people, or even bullets - that he seemed to have a knack for avoiding.

He let a long sigh escape from his lips, thinking back to those days. He had grown up without a father for most of his life, it had just been his mother, grandfather, brother and himself. Sure, that seemed enough for some people, but without his father it was never enough.

Despite his mother's wishes, which were of course for him to become a world renowned scholar, he joined the police force, and became a detective soon after finishing his time at the academy, owing to his superior intellect. He had obtained a Master's Degree at eighteen for goodness sake, he was a genius.

He had been present the day that his father had died, and maybe it was that moment when he decided to dedicate himself to the protection of others in some form or another.

His father, Goku, had died protecting other's lives as best he could, and he died doing what he loved best, saving people's lives

_It had been the first day that Gohan would be visiting the inner city, and he had never felt so excited in his entire life! Apart from the occasional flight on Nimbus to Roshi's Island or Capsule Corporation, where he had never even left the compound, he had never even left the countryside in all of his nine long years. All of them were going together. His grandfather, his mother and the baby inside her and himself. And of course his father, that was what mattered most, as long as his daddy would be there too._

_They had all been walking together, Gohan between his mother and father, both of them flanking him protectively, despite the boy being more than capable enough to handle himself. He dragged his parents everywhere, this was so different to the small villages that lay nestled in the woods near his home._

_As they wandered along the busy streets of Orange Star, screams, shouts and sirens could be heard. Gohan had felt himself pounding away at the floor with his feet as his instincts took over and he followed his father towards the direction that the noises emerged from, his other parent and grandfather close behind._

_Skidding to a halt in front of a large building, Gohan looked up. Flames could be seen licking at the walls of the building on the first floor, and a small number of police officers were attempting with all of their might to restrain a couple of the residents of the building who were frantically trying to get back in, most likely their loved ones were still trapped inside, and the fire service were still only their way._

_Goku, his natural tendencies springing to life, turned quickly to his son. "Stay here and look after your mother. Promise me that you will _not _move." Gohan nodded quickly, following every and any order that his father might give him without hesitation. The man ran forward, easily brushing past the two policemen desperately holding back the young mother whose two year old daughter was stuck inside, a teenage boy attempting to reclaim his twin sister, and a young man who had only just left to collect some groceries when the gas leak had ignited, his pregnant wife still inside._

_Gohan's grandfather followed his son in law quickly into the building. He himself was still in good shape, his years of martial arts training allowing him to maintain his powerfully built body. It was through him that Chichi had met Goku._

_Gohan watched his father bursting through the front door to the apartment building, the man's father in law only a few yards behind him. He viewed in awe as a few minutes later he emerged with a young girl even younger than himself and a pretty girl of about fifteen, soot and dust covering her features. The older man emerged just behind him carrying a twenty something, heavily pregnant woman._

_A short conversation now erupted between the two men. The police were helpless, they didn't have the expertise or know-how to handle this situation, and the fire service were fifteen minutes away._

_Gohan found out later that Goku had said he heard another inside, and instructed his elder to wait outside. There was no time to argue, but Gohan's grandfather wished afterwards he had stopped him, even if there had been a hundred left inside, but a hero's soul cannot be put down so easily. _

_Moments later, Goku was at the window, and lowering an unconscious young girl, perhaps the same age as Gohan from the window to the awaiting arms of his old friend. The hallway had collapsed, and the distance was too great, and the floor below far too dangerous to jump down to. As the young father began hesitated, checking the room for any signs of life, another of the buildings gas fires exploded._

_Goku died instantly, the sheer force of the explosion far too great for even his well trained body to handle. Gohan was completely silent as his mind went blank, the screams of his mother not even heard, despite his proximity to the woman._

He violently shook his head, removing thoughts of that tragic day from his current thinking. He didn't need that sort of thing on his mind. After that, things had been tough emotionally, but luckily the family could survive easily. Chichi was stricken with grief, and didn't emerge from her depression until her second son was born, when she took care of him full time, leaving her job as a chef. The house was already paid for, it being her father's, whose ample savings kept the family going until she went back to her job when Goten was a year old and Gohan began his first stint of schooling.

Pulling up to the scene of the crime at the dingy motel, he stepped out of his car and tried to spot his partner in solving crime on the courtyard. Looking all around him, as he always did, taking all things into account, he spotted one of the female police officers stepping straight out into the middle of the road. With a resigned sigh, he realised who it was. And what could have been. Quickly looking up and down the road he saw a dark saloon coming down at breakneck speed.

The woman in question obviously hadn't seen it, and he remembered instantly exactly what she was like, she was _always_ doing this.

Sprinting over to her as quickly as his body allowed him to, he ran straight into her side, sending her sprawling, and went to ground with her as the car sped past, inches from the two of them.

After twisting in the air a little, Gohan and the woman landed harshly on the ground. While in the air he had managed to place an arm beneath her back, to soften the landing, and a hand on the back of her head, so as not to allow her to smash it on the concrete as they landed. He lay there staring into her beautiful blue eyes for a few moments, relishing the feel of one of her slender legs between his own two, the other one bent, knee upraised, her thigh brushing his hip suggestively.

His hand had managed to make its way into the soft folds of her pitch black hair, and their faces were only inches apart, her warm breath tickling his lips, daring him to kiss her like he wanted to.

"This brings back some good memories." He whispered to her, for her ears only, and he saw her eyes flash with remembrance to those days, days that no one else knew about.

Immediately a shadow appeared above them, and Gohan turned his head slightly, seeing the entire police presence in the area staring right at the two of them, his partner Ezra, a dedicated detective in his early forties stooped over them, a broad smile captured on his face.

He bellowed a hearty laugh, one that Gohan knew well. "I _knew_ that you wanted to sleep with Officer Satan!"


	2. Must Be A Devil Between Us

After Gohan had turned his head in the direction of the individual stood over the two of them, Videl continued to stare at his handsome face, his warm hands still holding her body close. She too was remembering back to the old days, and their current situation reminded her a great deal of the nights as well.

The feel of his fingers interwoven between her strands of silky hair was ever so familiar to the young woman, his other hand in a similarly familiar position, causing her to arch her back into him, creating yet more bodily contact between the two of them.

She relished the feel of those large hands on her body, remembering how she had always been so amazed as to how rough and calloused they appeared, but how they were able to move over her skin with such delicacy and intricacy, always gently caressing her in all of the right spots.

Internally, her stomach was doing flips and her heart racing, but her mind was shouting at her.

Things between them had ended for a good reason, and she constantly told herself that she was happy that they were no longer together. It was for the best that they were apart. At least that was her mind's point of view, this way was the intelligent way. Besides, she had someone else now.

Her heart, however, was telling her something else. Why did it matter what had happened all of those years ago? They could start afresh. The voice of her heart was telling her one important thing; 'you're still in lov-'

"Don't say it." She whispered, not meaning to do so out loud.

Gohan turned his head back in her direction. "What?" He said, sounding slightly alarmed at her words. He wasn't going to say anything.

Instead of replying with words, she forced herself to get out of this position. Rapidly, she raised the knee that rested between his legs into his groin.

Gohan suddenly lurched forward. With a resounding "Oof!", he groaned while rolling from atop her, onto his back clutching at himself, the unbearable pain too much for him to handle. The men in the area winced, understanding his torment at the time.

Videl, known as Officer Satan to the majority of people in the area, stood up gracefully, dusting her black uniform off while doing so. She peered down at him as he writhed in agony. Maybe she had been a little harsh. The man had just saved her life after all.

Feeling a bit sorry for him, she stared down at his face, waiting to catch his eye. He now looked as though he was just putting on a show and she was about to give him another good kick when he began to move into a sitting position, his partner checking on him. She looked down to him, her apologies evident in her eyes.

"Thanks." She almost whispered to him when she saw the look in his eyes. It was the same look she would see often back in the days when they were together, one that she couldn't put into words. It simply seemed a look that was meant for only the two of them to share.

She turned away hastily, striding over to the crime scene with a heavy blush still present on her face.

Gohan stood up quickly, staring at her retreating form. As the female had done before him, he brushed himself off, and rolled up the sleeves to his white shirt. "What do we have then Ezra?"

"The usual. High powered criminal, dead, one bullet. It's Barthez, French origin. You remember him?" He replied in his deep voice, the hairs in his beard moving frantically as he spoke.

"Yeah, we almost had him last year."

"Anyway, on to more important stuff."

"Like what?" Gohan asked, perplexed at what could possibly be more important than this.

"About you and that fox Satan!"

Gohan sent him a furious glare at bringing up the topic once again, as he did at least once a week. "That is hardly important business Ezra. There has just been a murder after all."

"Oh come on, I saw the look between you two. Either something is going to happen, or it already has." He turned away scratching his chin as Gohan fixed his gaze once more on the beauty as she engaged in conversation with her uniformed colleagues. He wondered if she got the third degree about their rumoured relationship off people just like he did.

"We were in the same year as each other in the academy." He spoke wistfully.

"You were? Any more details?" He probed.

"Let's just leave it at that, shall we?" He ended their conversation right there, unwilling to share any more details of his past life.

--------------------------------------------

Gohan and Ezra entered the motel room, gliding underneath the police tape, and Gohan instantly began searching for something, anything. He began clicking his fingers on his right hand, a trait picked up when he had been in university at fifteen, and got flustered at every last detail, always misplacing objects without his mother's guidance. The clicking just seemed to focus his mind.

Usually this worked every time, or at least it used to until he came onto this case. It was the toughest thing he had ever taken on, but he and Ezra were sure that they would eventually be able to crack it. After a good search, without even spotting a hair, fingerprint or even a sign of a slight struggle, he decided to leave it to the scene of the crime officers and their modern technology.

The two of them walked down the stairs, discussing what little information they had, and in doing so, Gohan didn't notice the woman waiting patiently at the foot of the staircase. As Gohan turned, he was caught off guard and dropped the pen that he had been twirling between his fingers.

He bent down quickly to retrieve it. He cursed himself for his ineptitude that he still had with unfamiliar, beautiful women. Grasping the pen tightly, he turned his gaze upwards and saw a long black skirt hugging the long legs of the female in question. He rose slowly, his eyes travelling past an hourglass figure of wide hips and a thin waist, and cleavage peering at him through the mostly unbuttoned pink blouse underneath a smart suit. As he stood to his full height, he saw her face clearly.

She was beautiful, with vibrant green eyes, but she wore a little too much make up for his taste, and the platinum blonde dyed hair suited her but along with the overwhelming make up made her seem far too unnatural. She looked a bit too much like a barbie doll in Gohan's eyes.

She stood almost as tall as he did, which added more to her 'unrealness'. "May I ask just what is going on here?" She questioned in a formal, educated manner, but not at all sounding condescending. Her eyes seemed to flirt with him though, completely disagreeing with the formality that the words spoke of.

Why was she asking him? There were numerous police men and women swarming over the area, and she chose him to question. "Um, I'm sorry, I'm not really at liberty to divulge that sort of information, Ma'am."

"Well, I was staying here last night, I'm on business you see, and I may of seen something." She cocked her head to the side in a way that Gohan didn't think could get much more seductive. His mind and heart suddenly forced a face into his minds eye, which brought a smile to his lips. He looked over to where she now stood.

He caught her eye for a fleeting moment, and suddenly felt bad for just talking with this flirtatious woman. Videl averted her eyes from his own quickly, obviously not wanting him to know that she had been looking right at him for quite a while now, and that she was feeling a considerably large pang of jealousy and anger towards that other woman that appeared to have captured him under her spell.

Gohan seemed to know exactly what she was thinking, and thought that perhaps he would be able to capitalise on this. He didn't think that she had ever seen him with another woman, and this could be a perfect opportunity to flare up her jealousy.

"Well, is there anything of importance that you can think of?"

She looked to be in deep thought for a few moments, until she answered. "Nothing springs to mind right now."

"Well, if anything comes up, just give me a call." He made a fairly big show of getting his card out and handing it to her, making sure that any prying blue eyes might spot the transaction.

"OK, thanks. I'll call you sometime..." She looked down at he name on the card. "...Detective Son." She turned on her heel, and walked away just like that, swinging her hips as she went. Once she was out of earshot, Ezra spoke up.

"What the hell was that about Gohan?"

"What are you talking about?"

"That was very unlike you. You never mix business with pleasure. And it isn't like that was the first time you've had a beautiful woman come up to you like that. What was so special about her?"

"Are you blind! Did you not see her?" He replied, shocked at his partner's actions.

"For one, you have had even better looking women than that ask you out, and for another, I know that you've had better."

"What do you mean?"

"Officer Satan." He answered simply.

"What about her?"

"Well, you've had her before haven't you?"

"No...You don't think..." He managed to stutter out. "We never..."

"I don't know what there is between the two of you, and to be honest, now I see that you are in such deep denial about this, maybe I don't want to know. What I do know is that blondie was pretty suspicious. You are hailed as one of the greatest detectives in the city, yet you couldn't even get a name out of her. I know how bad you are with very good looking women but even you manage to learn someone's name, even when you are turning down incredible looking women."

"That's crazy talk." The younger man said.

"And what was a well dressed, sophisticated and high powered woman doing alone in a dump like this." He waved his hand around in a circle above his head to emphasise the point and the he strode off, leaving the young detective with plenty of food for thought.

-------------------------------------------

Later that day, in the early evening, Gohan and Ezra returned to the station after a hard day of driving around accomplishing what some might call nothing. The bureaucrats in the force had many other phrases for that, damage control was one, intelligence gathering was another.

It wasn't that they weren't trying, this guy was just too good. Gohan felt his pride and dignity taking a bashing every day this went on, and on some level he hoped that this guy might actually be a woman. Being beaten like this by another man didn't feel too good. But maybe getting beaten by a girl would be worse.

They just thanked their lucky stars that it wasn't innocents being murdered in clod blood, but hardened and dangerous criminals who probably got what was coming to them anyway.

As they wandered dejectedly through the main doors, they spotted a commotion going on in the foyer. A large, or more accurately gigantic man was being restrained by half a dozen uniformed police officers.

"I need to speak with Detective Son!" He bellowed in a deep voice that matched his stature, shaking the young female receptionist even through the plexiglass window.

Gohan and Ezra groaned. This was one of their 'friends'. A man with such deep criminal ties that it was a wonder the two hadn't thrown him in jail yet. Maybe it was the fact that he was giving five fully grown men and one proficient female martial artist a fair fight. He must have seen his target out of the corner of his eye and he swung around sharply, knocking all but one of his assailants off his bulky body, his mane of long black hair twisting behind him.

The one who still had a firm grip tried to gain a stronger hand hold on his upper arm, but found it to be of no use. The large male simply swung around again, moving closer to the wall. "Get off me, bitch!" He yelled, as she went crashing into the stone wall, his elbow firmly planted on her cheek. Her grip fell limp, and she slumped down onto the floor as a number of her colleagues went to check on her.

Now free of his restraints, the large fellow calmly walked towards Gohan, completely unaware that he had just assaulted six police officers, one of them now seriously injured. "Gohan, I have to tell you something right away."

The man seemed a little slow on this day of all days, and completely missed the look of seething anger in the eyes of the one that he was addressing, and the doom that awaited him. So he completely missed the fist that shattered his left cheek bone, spraying blood all over one wall of the main police department of Orange Star. He fell to the ground like a sack of bricks, a loud thud echoing around the hallway.

The look of anger quickly vanished from Gohan's face. He hated fighting and getting angry, and he hated hurting people, especially people that he cared about or liked. Despite all appearances, this brute of a man had actually helped Gohan out a lot in the past and Gohan respected him for that. His actions just moments before definitely called for what he got though, he would wake up in a few hours anyway.

"Get him in a cell." He said, shaking his head. Three men proceeded to drag him into the holding area, a place that hopefully keep him locked down, a job that they had been unable to do.

Gohan turned his attention to the woman that was now on her feet, albeit rather shakily. He walked over, ignoring the smirk on Ezra's face, and moved close to her as the others backed away from her. Her temper was legendary and she was known not to accept help.

"You'd better go check that out Videl." The young receptionist said.

"I'll be fine thanks Setsuka." Apparently this was one person that Videl could stand.

"She's right you know." She could barely move a muscle as she felt his large hand caress over the swollen wound, his soft touch surveying the damage. Why did it have to be him that always turned up to save her? It infuriated her and she just felt that it gave him more to work with against her. But she knew deep down that she enjoyed knowing that he was taking care of her, keeping her safe.

She felt a jolt in her stomach as she realised that this was the second time in a day that he had touched her and held her like this, almost intimately. "You should sit down."

"I'm fine." She replied in an adamant tone.

Without listening to her protests, he opened the unlocked door of the room behind her, a simple, small meeting room. He motioned for her to sit on the edge of the table and he closed the door behind him. Rumour, most likely started by Ezra himself, said that there was something going on, but most people didn't even know that the two knew more than each .other's name.

He turned back towards her and crouched down a little to get a better look at her injury. It didn't look too serious, just a flesh would, nothing was broken, unlike the face of the one that had done this to her.

"How have you been?" He asked tentatively.

"All right." She said in much the same manner. "How's your mother?" Taking the subject away from herself.

"She keeps asking about you. Goten asks too. He's a teenager now but he still doesn't understand. You remember what he was like as a kid."

She laughed a little at some distant memory of Gohan and his little brother. "I'm seeing someone." She blurted out.

"What? Who?" The thought of someone else with her made his blood boil once again, and she seemed to sense this within him.

"Don't worry, we haven't..." That was a lie but she knew that he had been with his fair share of women since they split up years ago.

"It's only a matter of time though isn't it." His eyes travelled down her face and rested on a spot on the left hand side of her neck that was currently covered by her uniform. As he did this she absent mindedly raised a hand up to the same spot, running her fingertips along the skin underneath. "Is it still there?"

"Of course it is. I expect that I'll never lose that." Her tone was bitter-sweet.

"I should hope not. I don't fully understand why I did it, but I have my theories."

"So you have some theories as to why you _bit_ me at one of the most inappropriate times possible in either of our lives? Anyway, I don't see why I should tell any of this to you, we were finished years ago. I can do whatever I like!"

"No you can't." He stated coolly.

"And why not?"

"Because you are mine."

"I am yours am I? I didn't think that I belonged to anyone but myself."

"Yes, as I am yours. We belong together but you continue to fight it."

"No more than you. I saw you with that woman."

"So you were watching were you?" He asked gleefully, glad that his little plan worked out rather well.

"It was hard not to. The way she was flaunting herself all over you. How disgusting. I can't believe that you were actually attracted to her."

"So you would rather I focus my attraction on you?"

"Of course not! Now come on Gohan, I think that we have spoken quite enough."

"Yes, I agree." And without warning, he pulled her close and into a passionate kiss. She fought back with her arms for a few moments before succumbing to his strong embrace around her and familiar taste of his lips on her own. Soon however, she regained her senses and realised that there was someone that she was supposed to be faithful to. What was his name again...?

With what was almost a scream, she forced their bodies apart, both of them flushed from the kiss and their argument beforehand, and she rushed hurriedly out of the door.


	3. Or Whores In My Bed

"What the hell do you want Jerome?" Gohan asked the large man bluntly as soon as he entered the room. It was now almost midnight, and Gohan was tired. Sat beside him was Ezra, who also looked a little worse for wear. Gohan stared at the criminal's face. His size and large bushy hair always reminded him of someone. A man that he couldn't care less for but used to tolerate for the sake of another.

"I was expecting an apology first actually pal. I could sue you know."

"Yeah, and you could be going to prison for multiple assaults on police officers. The fact that the chick whose face you busted was in fact the love of Gohan's life doesn't help your case."

Jerome burst out laughing at this revelation, but Gohan remained stone faced. "Just tell us what you know before I put you back in that cell. Or worse yet I could just beat it out of you. The enormous man immediately stopped laughing. He didn't want the other side of his face caving in, and he had seen first hand just what Gohan was truly capable of, and it entailed far more than the punishment he had been dealt earlier in the evening.

"All right, just promise me one thing."

"And what would that be?" Ezra questioned.

"That you believe everything I tell you."

"We've never doubted you before, so why would we now?"

"Because this is some weird shit." The two detectives nodded their heads for him to continue. "OK, the first thing might not be too hard for you to follow. The guy that you're looking for is a woman."

"I knew it!" Gohan shouted.

"No you didn't." Ezra retorted. Gohan mumbled something else under his breath. Ezra continued. "So what else do you have for us?"

"Don't ask me to explain any of this, but I'm pretty sure that whoever is doing this is not doing it of their own free will. Somehow they are being controlled by someone else. I mean that doesn't actually sound that far fetched if you believe in hypnotism and all that crap. Does it?"

The two detectives sat there pondering for a few short moments before Gohan spoke up. "Are you saying that someone is controlling someone else to kill a bunch of criminals, just for the sake of the city?"

"Hell no, this guy is taking over and he doesn't want any interruptions from any competitors."

"Please tell me how the finest efforts of the Orange Star P.D come up with nothing but you stroll in here shouting your mouth off, not seeming to give a damn if anyone hears you. You could be killed for this."

The large man laughed a hearty laugh, free from worry. He leant forward and spoke quieter now. "I was sent here. By him, directly to _you,_ detective. Not to the police, not to the task force assigned to this case, but to _you_. He wanted you to know Gohan."

"You've met him?" Gohan questioned.

"I thought that you were going to ask me why it was you, but..."

"That can come later. Have you met him or the woman."

"No, I met a subordinate of his. A bit of a freak actually, he was even bigger than me and he smelled like a dog. I mean literally like a big, stinking dog."

"And how did he get you to do this for you? You aren't one to be told what to do, especially if you aren't even working for them."

The giant of a man lifted his shirt up his body, to reveal a set of horrific wounds on his stomach and chest. Numerous bruises covered the skin and one set of gashes traversed a length of about 9 inches across his belly.

"What the hell...?"

"Like you say, I ain't one to do something for nothing. I didn't take too much persuading after this though." He allowed his shirt to fall back into place. "Right, that's all I have for you guys."

"You sure?"

"Definitely." He stated firmly.

"Are you going to be all right? Are you sure that these guys won't be coming after you after you've done your job?"

"I was told in no uncertain terms that I would be completely and utterly forgotten about as soon as my orders were carried out. I should neither expect any aid nor should I have to fear an attack on my life. To them I might as well not even exist after this moment. They won't waste their time and resources on me."

"All right then. We'll be seeing you Jerome. Thanks for everything." The two police men stood to show their 'guest' out. They didn't bother leaving the room with him, he had been here enough times. He knew where he was going.

Gohan and Ezra both slumped down into their chairs. "What the hell do we do now?" The younger man said.

-------------------------------------

Videl crashed through her nicely painted, blue front door without worrying about waking whoever else might be home. Luckily all of her house mates were still wide awake and sat in the living room of the moderately sized house.

She dropped her duffel bag in the hallway, and her keys on the small table. Upon turning through the doorway on her right, she saw her long term best friend Erasa and her almost as long term boyfriend, Kaji. She was fond of him, that she knew. But despite almost two years together, in which she miraculously kept Gohan's knowledge of Kaji to an absolute minimum, the word love had never quite seemed appropriate. She had heard it many times off him, more times than she dared to count. But somehow she had never felt the urge to say the same thing back to him.

At first she had been worried he might suspect something was up, but now he seemed to be used to it. Maybe he realised that she wasn't that type of girl.

"Late again?" The blonde questioned. The dark haired girl fell into one of the large armchairs and felt her legs begin to heal almost instantly. "What happened to your face?" The two got up quickly to get a closer inspection but she shooed them away, much like she had when her fellow police officers had tried to assist her.

"Just some wacko in the station. It's nothing serious." Instantly she fell into a daydream, losing the ability to pay attention to her surroundings. Her friends noticed the glazed over look to her eyes, one that was returning more and more often these days. She seemed to be under stress, but they couldn't imagine what exactly it could be, crime hadn't risen for twenty years in this city.

"What's wrong Videl?" Erasa asked.

"Just someone at work pissing me off." She stood up to leave.

"Was it Gohan?" Videl looked at her friend. How was she so intuitive? Was she that easy to read?

"I'd rather not talk about it, I need some sleep." Without another word, she left the room and traipsed up the carpeted stairs.

A heavy silence fell upon the two still downstairs as they both mulled over thoughts that the name Gohan brought. The silence was broken by the male among the pair. "Erasa, how long exactly have you known Videl? I know that you've been best friends for years, but how long has it been."

"Ooh, I don't know...I think that we met when we first started school together. We would have been about five then. That's over twenty years. Wow, that's a pretty long time."

Kaji prevented her from stating any more painfully obvious facts and continued. "So, you know almost everything about her, about her childhood, school life and all that?"

"Pretty much."

"Does that name mean anything to you."

"Which name? You mean Gohan?"

"Yes."

"It sure does. Why, don't you know who he is?"

The man mumbled under his breath, "So it is a man..."

"Huh? Hasn't Videl told you about him."

"Not a word. Well, not voluntarily. Sometimes she just seems to let it slip out."

"As in, she says his name...in bed?"

He chuckled dryly. "We don't seem to do that much more anyway. Yeah, she has done that but she didn't even notice what she said. It isn't just that though. Sometimes she just says it when she's calling me over or whatever, if she isn't really paying attention. Or maybe she'll mumble his name while she's asleep."

Erasa turned her head slightly to see if Videl was listening at the door, then got up and closed it. She wasn't sure if Videl wanted him to know about this, but he did deserve to be told. She looked at Videl's current boyfriend. He did sort of look like Gohan. He was tall, dark hair, dark eyes and pretty handsome. But the whole package just seemed to add up to less. He wasn't _quite_ as good looking as Gohan was, and his hair didn't stick up. She always liked that about him.

"I'll tell you about Gohan. But you have to promise that you will never tell her that you learned all of this from me. Videl has obviously kept this from you for a reason."

"OK fine. Just tell me."

"Are you comfortable? Because this is a long story."

--------------------------------------------------------

Videl Satan _hated_ Son Gohan. Son Gohan _hated_ Videl Satan. This was no mutual dislike between the two borne from being members of two very different social sects, it was a fierce hatred that actually worried some of the teaching staff at Orange Star Junior High. Two fourteen year olds should not even be able to experience feelings like that. What made it worse was that there was no feasible explanation. There were rumours, of course there were rumours, this was a school after all.

Everyone knew it, but no one actually knew _why_ such a malicious loathing existed between the two. Each of their circle of friends were enemies, but no one within the the two groups shared such a relationship.

Some people even thought that Videl had asked him out when he joined a year late, but he had knocked her back and actually _laughed_ at her. But anyone that knew Gohan knew that he would never go as far as to laugh at someone like that.

So the mystery went unsolved, and school life went on as it always had done. Currently, Videl was waking from a rather less than peaceful sleep. She reached a hand from out underneath the covers, bringing it down harshly on top of a poor unsuspecting alarm clock that was simply doing what she had told it to do the night before. Sitting up while untangling the covers from around her legs, she felt how flushed her face was.

She had been dreaming again, dreaming about that bastard. She was only fourteen. She did not need dreams quite like _that_ tormenting her mind. Why did he have to go around school acting as though butter wouldn't melt, hanging around with his loser friends. He could be a somebody right now, if only he had taken her up on her more than generous offer.

The boy in question was also having trouble with his reflection in the mirror. A recent growth spurt had sent him head and shoulders above the rest of his classmates. Only that simpleton Sharpener was anywhere near the dark haired boy, but of course the arrogant blonde thought that he himself was the taller of the two. Gohan couldn't care less, he just wanted to fit in.

Having barely entered your teenage years whilst having the body of an almost fully grown man did not allow you to fit in well. It didn't really help that he had to get to school on a flying yellow cloud either. He ran his hand through his pitch black hair, ruffling up the spikes.

Having a sudden upsurge was a double edged sword to Gohan. It made him look far older than he actually was, so he was able to get a part time job, charming his way past the attractive female manager at a fast food restaurant in Orange Star. Usually he was clueless to things like that and beautiful women made him nervous, but when he was in dire need he just sat back and it all flowed out.

Unfortunately however, the majority of the money that he earned, originally meant to help out his mother, had to be used on new clothes as his old ones didn't fit him any more. At least he had an excuse to get rid of the horrific ones that his mother got him.

He wasn't the type to follow trends too closely, but even his friends, who were hardly those considered 'cool' among the school populace, had some sense of normality in their dress sense. With a final resigned look to his reflection, he turned and strode off in search of breakfast.

Later that Friday morning, Gohan was wandering along the hallways with a girl that he had known for years, even before he had started at the school, having met her in one of the small villages near his home. You could say that Lime was his best friend in a sense.

He peered over the top of the other students' heads and saw a familiar head of black hair approaching him. As she came closer his mouth curled into a sneer and his usual temperament went straight out of the window. As she saw him she did the same letting out an exaggerated groan at seeing him.

"Look at those losers Erasa. Dungarees on a fourteen year old? What is she thinking?" Videl commented on Lime's usual choice of attire.

Gohan was about to open his mouth in reply but was halted by his friend dragging him swiftly off. "Just ignore her. If she sent her friends after you, or even her father you'd be a dead man. Gohan had yet to reveal to anyone that he had been trained by his father rather a lot as a youngster, and training after his death, her mother saying that she didn't want his skills inherited from his father to vanish completely. This mystified him, he had always expected her throw him into his studies one hundred per cent, but luckily she had given a small respite in his youth to train.

That girl knew just how to push his buttons. She had learned a long time ago that insults about the boy himself had little or no effect on his mind, only those directed at his friends or family did any damage, and she knew that the tension was building up inside him and pretty soon he would snap. She couldn't wait to see what happened then.


	4. At The Door, In My Head

Gohan took his seat halfway to the back of the room with Lime where he usually sat. It was uncomfortably close to _her_ and her little gang and he had been forced to listen to their schnide comments about his friends for months. Luckily however, they usually were able to get some back at them, relying on the inherent stupidity that appeared to be rife in their clique.

Upon hearing the handle of the door click open, Gohan peered over to the entrance of the room. He hoped to see their teacher, as Videl hadn't entered yet, and their home room teacher was infamous for his sternness over tardiness, despite usually being at least ten minutes late each day himself. Seeing her get into trouble was always good for a laugh on a weekday morning. He groaned, however as his enemies wandered in, the blond Sharpener leading the pack.

Videl walked in behind him slowly, her head craned around as she was chatting away to her friend Erasa behind her. For a second Gohan felt himself almost enjoy the sight of a rare and genuine smile cross her face and he even smiled a little himself. He had noticed that recently these had been few and far between on her part.

He quickly realised that he really should not be noticing this type of thing though. However, as she turned to face forwards again, her eye line crossed his own and he glared down at her.

Down at the front of the classroom, Videl gave him the best glare back at him that she could muster but somehow it never seemed enough, her glares, so notorious for their ferocity, never felt like they held quite enough anger towards him. They both turned away at the same moment, neither of the dark haired pair winning or losing the staring contest.

She took her seat off to his left, on the row behind his own, the rest of them in the surrounding area. Something soft hit him dead centre on his back and he heard the tell tale sniggers from the expected region.

Gohan twisted in his seat to turn to his 'attacker'. "What do _you_ want Son?" Gohan placed a saccharine smile on his face, and fluttered his eyebrows.

"When are you going to start pulling my hair Sharpener? If you fancy me so much that you crave my attention you should just ask me out on a date. You never know, I might even say yes."His eyes drifted across the group, who all held grimaces upon their faces, except for Videl, who seemed to have a slight smile adorning her lips.

"Shut your bastard mouth." The taller boy turned back around, facing the front, noticing for the first time that their tutor had entered. Settling down, he forgot all about possible homosexual blonds.

Later in the day, during a rather interesting history class, at least for Gohan anyway, where the teacher had gone off topic at a furious rate, moving into European colonisation and exploration of Asia in the late nineteenth century the teacher noticed a certain member of class was paying little, if any attention.

"Miss Satan!" He hissed. "I know that this may not be quite what we expected to do today, but I expect all of you to pay attention at all times." She frowned down at him, annoyed at being reprimanded for a simple whisper to her neighbour on the row. "So, unless you can tell me which Russian explorer took to Asia's great mountains after Britain's Francis Younghusband, I expect you to listen to me when I am speaking." She continued frowning down at the old man. "So, can you tell me?"

"Erm...Nicolas Roerich?" She took a stab in the dark. However, much to her distaste, Gohan and his friends burst out laughing, as if this was the most obvious of questions.

"Nicolas Roerich did not take to the hills until 1925, almost forty years after Younghusband. The correct answer is Tsybikov in 1889." He spoke through the laughter of her far too well informed classmates.

Gohan knew that barely anyone in the world would actually know the answer to that ridiculous question, and that she must be amazingly well informed to have heard of Nicolas Roerich, but he couldn't help but take any opportunity to laugh at her and her misfortune. He turned to get a good look at her face, but he didn't see what he was expecting to.

He met her eyes head on and instead of a fierce glower, she was biting her bottom lip softly and her blue hues held a gentle expression instead of her normal sharp, vibrant one.

His laughter died instantly and he felt something tugging at his heart. He felt terrible. She actually looked hurt and somewhere deep inside he hated himself for doing that to her. She turned quickly, focusing on the page that was open before her and found the Russian revolution very interesting.

Why did she have to go and make a fool of herself like that? She couldn't care less what those others thought, but why did _he, _of all of them have to laugh the hardest at her? She was getting very angry with herself today, having awoken with thoughts about him rifling through her head and then actually caring that he thought that she looked like a complete and utter idiot.

She was supposed to be a fairly tough girl, unhindered by silly emotions such as these, and she definitely wasn't one that was interested in boys, despite the fact that she was part of what would be considered the 'in' crowd. She was far too young for the opposite sex anyway, that much had been drummed into her head by her domineering father.

Something very annoying was snapping at Gohan's heels, and it certainly wasn't a tiny little dog. It was a bit of a bitch though. Just why they let Videl play contact sports with the boys always confused Gohan. She was the daughter of the world martial arts champion, so that made her invincible, did it? Both her and Sharpener had been pissing him off all game, and football was usually something that he enjoyed to no end, although despite how good he was at sports, he was still branded a geek by his peers. It was all fine and dandy with him though, they could call him whatever they wanted.

"Would you piss off?" He screamed at the blond boy as he rushed in once again, swiping at his heels. He wasn't usually one to lose his cool but this had just been going on and on for too long. Not only had they been attacking him physically, they had been going on about his friends into his ear and his own family even came up once or twice.

Turning quickly while completely abandoning the ball, he lashed out at his assailant sending him straight to the floor before anyone had even had the chance to blink. Unluckily for the one on the ground Gohan had held himself back at the last moment, because if he had been knocked out cold straight away, he may have been saved from the severe beating he was about to receive for getting straight back up.

He was pushed straight back down by the dark haired boy and the rest of their classmates flocked to the scene to watch it unfold. Videl was one of the first there, but didn't even consider jumping in until told to do so by a higher authority, something that she would instantly do once she had matured a little in a couple of years.

Their sensei sprinted across from the girl's game and a plan of action sprang instantly to his mind. Despite all appearances, the man knew that Son Gohan was a veritable monster and he didn't fancy being in the direct line of fire, so he chose to pull the other boy away from him as quickly as possible, who was incidentally know trying in vain to fight back, totally clueless that he was completely outmatched.

"Miss Satan." The sensei motioned his head to the girl, trying to get her to restrain and calm the boy, in the certain hope that despite the fact that he would probably have absolutely no qualms about ripping apart a teacher to get to his prey, he would never consider hitting a girl, let alone a completely innocent one. Fortunately he was correct, apart from the fact that she was far from being an innocent party in this incident.

She sprang into action, stepping into the fray, knowing that this was in part her own fault, placing her palms onto his chest in a calming gesture and turning away to see if Sharpener was being restrained properly. His facial expression and body language instantly softened. Gohan continued staring at the other male until he felt a firm presence on his chest.

He looked down in confusion at the girl, who in turn realised just how close she was to him. Videl's eyes widened like saucepans in shock and Gohan's mouth gaped open. Had they just been touching?

The two were apart in a flash. Videl as if the contact burned her fingertips and Gohan as if her hands were covered in toxic waste. The pair stood feet apart, both slightly short of breath, breathing a little more heavily than normal.

"Now Mister Son, I suggest that you apologize to this boy before you get into any serious trouble."

Sharpener began protesting instantly. "He'd better be in trouble!"

"Quiet Sharpener! I know what you were doing and I know just how long you have been doing it. You should count yourself lucky that I halted this little altercation." He explained.

Gohan's attention was far from the talk between the student and pupil, and was focusing far more on the comforting feel of her hands on his body. Before he pondered it further he strode off towards the changing rooms, leaving her stood stock still with the eyes of the entire class on herself and the retreating boy, all imagining what the silent exchange that just went between them actually meant. The pair didn't see each other for the rest of the school day.

Teenagers are an odd bunch and the group had many different theories on what just happened. Some people thought that the two might still belong in the childish recesses of believing that the other sex is disgusting and that touching each other was still a taboo, and some could be spared for believing that Videl might have been brainwashed by her father to believe that she couldn't even _touch_ a boy unless he was stronger than her father, which of course meant that she couldn't _ever_ touch a boy.

The more fanciful and romantic of the bunch however might have the faint notion that the two could actually be immersed in a secret love that only the two were meant to know of, or perhaps it was even one that the two were too afraid to admit. Either way, these were the ideas that would be ridiculed by the rumour mill in days to come. Because Son Gohan couldn't _possibly_ be in love with Satan Videl.

Over in the changing rooms, Gohan was busy switching on the showers in an attempt to scourge himself of her presence. His shirt had been thin and he could still almost feel her soft touch on his broad chest.

He roughly scrubbed himself clean, trying in vain to remove any presence that she may have left on his body. His actions were in vain though, the whole ordeal had firmly scarred itself onto his psyche.

He could feel the shivers speeding down his spine and all over his back at the mere thought of what her hands might feel like grazing over his skin if he had been shirtless. The girl was having very similar thoughts within her own troubled mind.

As the crowd dispersed, only one teenager remained still. Sharpener wondered out loud to no one in particular. "Where's my apology?"

Gohan made sure that he wasn't being watched by anyone, in particular anyone that knew him and pulled open the stiff door into the restaurant. He wasn't embarrassed about his job, it was just simpler this way. Luckily this place was on the other side of town to his school so it was very rare that anyone from his own school that knew him could come here.

Even his friends knew nothing of his whereabouts on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday evening. He knew that he could trust them, but if an enemy of his even got a whiff that he worked here, they would most likely be straight down here informing the manager that they had an under age worker employed here who went by the name of Gohan. He had gone to a lot of trouble to get this job and he was damned if he was going to be forced out of something that he actually quite enjoyed.

He gave one of the till girls a quick wave as he sprinted up the stairs two at a time, ready to prepare for his short evening shift. He loved coming in like this, strolling across the city and arriving just in time for the quiet period, after all of the shops had closed for the day. No one lived in the area and weeknights were deathly silent, meaning that he could work alone in the kitchen.

Some may have hated this drudgery, but for Gohan it meant time to be left alone with his thoughts, something that he often found himself doing while working away on a specific task.

After changing into his work uniform that consisted of black shoes, black trousers and a simple blue shirt, along with the obligatory cap of course, he stowed his things away in his designated locker and jogged down the back stairs into the kitchen.

As he made his way in there, he saw the assistant manager, a man in his mid twenties named Gendo, waiting for him by the grills.

"What is it Gendo?" He questioned instantly. Normally if they knew that he was here they sent every other kitchen worker home and just left him to it.

"I've got a challenge for you today."

"Go on." He probed.

"We have a new starter tonight. Normally we would bring her in on the weekend but she can only work weeknights."

Gohan swallowed harshly. " Her? She? Don't they normally put girls on the counter?"

"Yeah, but she's only young and she's very pretty. Young girls get a lot of hassle and we just feel that it would be easier this way. To be honest she also seemed a bit of a firecracker and we didn't want her attacking any of the gentlemen customers over any _misunderstandings._

Gohan groaned out loud. He would have to train a girl, and a pretty one at that, at least according to Gendo.

"Plus, she's the same age as you."

"Fifteen?" He said shakily. He himself was still months away from that age, the age legally required for insurance purposes.

"No, she's fourteen. Maybe you know her from school."

Gohan laughed nervously and scratched the back of his neck, waving the other hand in front of his body. "But I'm fifteen Gendo, you know that."

The older man smiled at the boy. "We all know how old you are Gohan. Rei knew straight away when she interviewed you, but she took a liking to you so she hired you. She must of liked this one too and apparently this girl really needed the job and she's going to be old enough in a month anyway so we just allowed her to start straight away. Oh, and by the way, Charles is coming in tonight so be on guard."

He nodded his head in agreement. As he did so, he noticed that one of the other employees was motioning for Gendo to go over to her. "Right, this must be her now. She'll be ready in a few minutes so get ready."

Those minutes passed by quickly and Gohan silently wondered whether Gendo's description of her being 'pretty' would be spot on. He certainly hoped not, because pretty girls just made him sweat and shattered his nerves to pieces. He would never get round to do much work if she was too distracting for him to even remain conscious.

He heard the sound of the middle doors creaking open and awaited his new charge. And there she was.

"Gohan this is-"

"I know who it is." He replied sternly.


	5. Where Have You Been

**I sat for about half an hour while writing this just staring at my wrist because I could actually _see_ the blood vessels pulsing in my wrists, something that I have never noticed before.**

"I know who it is." He replied sternly. "Hello Videl."

"Excellent! So you two know each other then?" The elder man questioned, completely oblivious to the tension that existed between the two of them, which had only been heightened after the happenings of the day.

The girl nodded back at him. She looked nervous, she had absolutely no idea that anyone from her school worked here, let alone her worst enemy. Surely he was too young, but then again so was she, the manager had been quite lax on those rules so it shouldn't really have surprised her that another person below fifteen worked here.

The problem however, was that this was his territory, his home turf. He knew everyone here and she was going to be trained by him. She was completely at his mercy.

"I'll leave you two kids alone then, shall I?" The two were about to protest but he strode off quickly. Gohan sighed heavily, this was going to be a gruelling night.

He turned to face his new charge and he was quite surprised at her attire. At school, she always wore fairly baggy clothes despite how little her friends might put on, and he had always silently respected her for that.

But now, she had been forced to wear the compulsory female uniform. He looked her up and down as she glanced around nervously. He smirked, an action usually not witnessed coming from him, it wasn't often that she was nervous and he knew that he was the cause.

She wore black cotton trousers and clung to her slender legs and the blue shirt was a far more feminine version of his own. On the wrong person it was embarrassing, but when worn by a well proportioned female, the item of clothing could do wonders. It accentuated all of her curves and for the first time he truly noticed how well developed and in shape she was for her age. In another nervous gesture she smoothed over the front of it, and ran her hands over her hips to flatten out any creases.

He watched her in awe. If they were about four years older he would be all over her right now.

He coughed to catch her attention and to calm his own growing hormones. "First things first." He spoke. "Charles is coming in tonight, the guy that owns this store. You know that this is a franchise, right?" She nodded back to him as he coughed again nervously. Now both of them were anxious. "Well, when he comes in, we have to follow all procedures correctly, so you will need a hairnet on."

He chuckled as she wrinkled her nose in disgust at the thought of putting one of those horrendous things on. Wearing a cap was bad enough in itself. The boy went over to where they hung on the wall and removed one. He handed it over and she set her cap down to allow access to her dark locks.

Her hair was in a ponytail but a few stray strands managed to escape the band holding it together. He watched her closely and for the first time noticed her delicate hands. He knew that she was a fighter, but unlike most martial artists, her hands remained dainty and feminine to match her body. Studying her face, the boy realised just how pretty she was. From her eyes to her nose to her mouth he saw that she had the complete package. If he didn't hate her so much he might go as far to say that he thought that she looked almost perfect.

She was having trouble getting all of these stray hairs underneath the net, and this did not go unnoticed by the young male, so he moved closer to her in order to help.

"Let me sort it out." He spoke. His hands reached out and her own dropped to her sides. If this had been any other situation, she would have decked him by now, but all she could do was stand there.

As soon as his skin touched the soft black tresses he noticed just how silky her hair was and he realised it felt even better than he had imagined it would. He also realised that he really had imagined what the texture of her hair might feel like on more than one occasion.

The ends of his fingers absently grazed over the smooth, unblemished skin of her forehead and she almost gasped out loud at the contact. She closed her eyes and focused on removing the blush on her cheeks. Her face was boiling hot and she was on the verge of sweating profusely.

She wondered if he was doing this on purpose, teasing her just for the fun of it. But she knew that he wasn't the type. He was obviously just trying to help her out.

Upon realising how inappropriate his actions were, he pulled his hands back. The loose hairs had been hidden away and she placed the cap back on her head quickly. She felt that whatever look was on her face, it must have been, at least in her view, a weak one, because he was looking at her rather strangely. She replaced it with a rather more haughty one, something that she often gave him at school.

The boy was taken aback by her sudden change in expression and posture and he dutifully attempted to regain his senses. He remembered that he had a job to do and he began the arduous task of showing her around the kitchen area.

The evening dragged on painfully slowly, almost completely silent save for the in store sound system that repeated the same twenty tracks over and over. Even when he was explaining something he kept his words to a bare minimum and she rarely, if ever asked any ensuing questions. It was dreadfully quiet, even for a Monday night, so unluckily for the pair they were simply stood around for the majority of the night doing absolutely nothing.

The store was now closed and both of them had managed to rid themselves of the restrictions of hats and hairnets. Gohan was currently showing her where the bacon was kept and she was following closely behind him towards the walk in refrigerator. He didn't notice the water on the floor that had accumulated from a leak in one of the water pipes.

The boy managed to step over the spill, owing to the location of his footfalls, but was still unable to notice it. The girl was not as lucky due to her shorter footsteps and stepped right into the centre of it. As she lifted her other foot, the first one lost its footing and began its treacherous slide from underneath her.

Gohan heard the skidding sound and span round hastily. Her face was one of shock as time seemed to slow down for the boy and he stretched his arms out to steady her falling body.

He grasped firmly, but tried hard not to squeeze too hard on the tender flesh of her upper arms. After she felt herself steady, Videl peered down to her left where she saw the deep fat fryers boiling away. If he hadn't of caught her she would have probably mutilated half of her left arm as she fell.

Underneath his fingertips he could feel the firm muscles of her upper arm and was surprised at how strong they felt. Although she was in shape, her figure gave the impression that she was fairly weak, even for a girl, owing to her diminutive size, but he could feel that it was quite the opposite. Her skin however, was unbelievably soft and smooth. He had never touched a girl like this before and he wondered if they were all like this, or whether it could just be her.

He realised that she was quite a lot like his mother, in some areas at least. He didn't want to kiss his mother though.

His thumbs were caressing the sensitive, inner side of her biceps while his long fingers almost wrapped their way all of the way around her arm and the girl was shocked at how she welcomed his touch. So she did the only thing that she could think of in the situation. She pulled back sharply. "What are you doing?" She accused, but it hardly sounded like she really meant it.

He was shell shocked. Girls were always beyond him. He had just saved her, hadn't he? "I just..." He mumbled.

"Just forget about it." She muttered back. "Thanks." She whispered, barely loud enough for him to hear. She felt badly for shouting at him, but she knew that he knew she didn't mean anything by shouting at him. It was simply her reflex action at being touched in any manner by a male and he was in fact lucky that she hadn't attempted to smack him.

With the tension between them increased ten fold, the pair continued on their way. As they wandered off, Gohan tried to remember all of the reasons why he disliked, or rather hated her. Somehow she had known instantly when he had begun school just who his father was and this gave her a valuable piece of information which she happily shared with all of her friends.

Then the taunts about how his father was a dirty trickster and a loser started, all fuelled by Videl's father no doubt. Even Gohan, the usually clueless Gohan, knew who Videl's father was, it had been thrust directly into his face when he began. And all Gohan heard when Mr Satan appeared on television was the ignorant, over bloated man going on about past champions and fighters as if he knew what he was talking about, putting them down, treading down upon their formerly good name and reputation.

But he soon realised that what he felt for her was far from hate. Hate was a such a strong word, one bandied about by teens all over the world without there ever being a great deal of meaning or feeling behind the words. Now he knew that he was simply scared. Scared of her and the growing attraction that he had towards her that was slowly becoming more and more obvious to the boy.

She was alluring to him and he found himself constantly stealing glances towards her as they worked and on more than one occasion he met a glance of her own head on.

He was supposedly a genius but his mind was full of confusion over her. At school they were the worst of enemies but here their interaction couldn't really be any more different. Normally they would argue with each other, something that would usually be out of Gohan's nature, but with her, he simply found himself being infuriated simply by her presence.

Here though, in just a few short hours their relationship had been turned on its head. The incident from earlier where he had steadied her unstable form would have resulted in world war three at school. Maybe it was because at school they each had back up from their friends but here they were truly alone against one another.

"Why are you here Videl?" He blurted out suddenly.

"Huh?" She mumbled back. Wasn't it obvious? This was a job, where hopefully she might even get paid.

"Your father is probably one of the richest men in the world yet you're slaving away in this dump."

She laughed out loud, but it was one full of sorrow. She looked away and furrowed her eyebrows in concentration but the boy focused his eyes intently on her face awaiting her answer. "My parents split up. And I went with my mother. My mother is very ill and she has had to stop working. Even though she is struggling for money she still wants me." He found himself smiling as she herself smiled at the thought of her mother's devotion.

"Even though my father is the reason they split up, he refuses to pay my upkeep because she was the one that moved out and he thinks that I was stolen from him by her. I explained this to Rei and she decided that she would allow me to begin because I'm almost fifteen anyway." She halted her speech when she realised that even her closest friends knew nothing of this. Why was she revealing herself to him, of all people?

"Your father is an ass." Surely a man as rich as Mr Satan would support his own family, no matter what had happened between them.

"Yes he is, but I still love him. He's just a misguided man with questionable ideals, that's all."

"He's an ass." The boy repeated.

Videl turned to face Gohan, realising that this was possibly the first non-obligatory conversation that they had ever shared. "So, why are you here?"

"Because my father is a loser who went and got himself killed and my mother is a lazy bitch."

"I said that, huh?" She scolded herself for saying such unfounded and untrue words, even if they had been in the heat of the moment. "Sorry."

He chuckled, never really taking such words to heart. Their childish squabbles and arguments had been nothing but petty. "Sticks and stones..."

"Um, Gohan?"

"Yes."

"Today, at school when you punched Sharpener. If that had been me annoying you at that time would you have hit me?" She questioned tentatively.

"Of course not." He instantly replied.

"Why not?"

"I'd never hit a girl, no matter what she had done to me."

"Even me, someone that knows how to fight and how to defend herself? Why not?"

"Because all women are weak and need protecting by men." He said with a smirk. She returned his expression with the most ferocious of death glares that he had ever received.

"How dare you! Are you calling me weak?"

"You and three billion others, yes."

"That is the most chauvinistic thing that I have ever heard... I'll show you weak..." Instead of continuing with the verbal argument she reached out with both hands and clasped his wrists within her own hands in an attempt to twist him arm behind his back in some sort of defence of women everywhere. But of course women are weak and need protecting so her attempt was sadly in vain and he easily held his arms in place as she struggled against his inhuman strength.

She knew that his words were meaningless and that he was simply toying around and she was giggling away unconsciously during their play fight, a sound rarely heard save by her mother. The boy was suddenly taken by surprise at the laughter being emitted from the girl. He stopped in his tracks and looked down at her.

She in turn looked up and saw a thoughtful expression marking his face, a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. During their little skirmish, their hand positions had managed to swap, but Gohan's hands were almost holding her own in his, as opposed to her wrists.To anyone that might wander in, the scene might look fairly suspect.

And unluckily for the two teenagers, that is just what happened.

"From the sounds of it, I would of guessed that you two were finished up in here. But from the looks of it, it would seem that you two were just getting started." Gendo almost thundered out loud, alerting all of the other members of staff to the predicament that the two youngest workers were in.

The other members of staff came rushing over towards the sounds of their assistant manager shouting about getting started. Some were worried that the two of them might be nowhere near finished and that all of them would be stuck there all night, but all of them smiled away to themselves as they saw the two youngsters practically holding hands with each other.

The pair sprang apart, much like they found themselves doing rather a lot recently. "It's not what you think!" Videl began protesting instantly as Gohan began scratching his head and waving an arm in front of his body.

"You know me! I'm not like that." He joked. He wasn't like that but it was obvious that the others wouldn't see that what they had witnessed was completely innocent.

With the lure of being able to go finally go hone, the topic was momentarily halted as the teens went upstairs to gather their belongings."Do either of you two need a lift home?" Gendo questioned as they re-emerged, Gohan thanking the man silently that he hadn't brought up the topic of Videl and himself.

Gohan mulled over whether the man would be prepared to make a thousand mile round trip as Videl spoke up. "If it isn't too much trouble..." She had been uncharacteristically shy tonight and she just assumed that it must simply be due to her unfamiliar surroundings.

"Don't worry about it." He turned to the boy. "Gohan?"

"No thanks."

"Are you sure? You'd get to spend some time alone in the back of my car with Videl here." He turned beetroot red in embarrassment and anger at the man for suggesting such a thing.

"I get home all right every other night, don't I?"

"OK then. We'll see you in a couple of days then." Gohan began wandering off to a quiet alley as the girls climbed into the car with the man and waved as they sped past, off into the night.

Videl sat on her junior high school's stands, her friends surrounding her as she sat with her elbows resting on her knees and her head cradled in her hands. She let out a sigh as he passed their group again, jogging around the track.

She didn't enjoy wasting away her lunch break like this and would much rather be doing something much more constructive, like running with him. Her friends hurled insults and even a few objects as he went on, but he carried on regardless.

The two hadn't spoken since her first night at work and she didn't even think that he had even looked at her. But they would both be there tonight and maybe things might actually go smoothly between them.


End file.
